I want to feel your repeats as powerful, but I can't. There's nothing here I can relate to. Readers don't have to share a similar life experience to enjoy a poem, but there has to be something, some common thread for it to work. For me, there is none. — unknown

I don't like to give things away, why not let a reader really think about it? If they find something of their own in it, great, if they find the exact inspiration, that's exciting. — sherains

Nice poem sherains--very poignant. I could be very wrong, but what I see is a father who hasn't been a part of your life for a very long time, hasn't been there for the good times or the bad times--hasn't been there when you needed him most. — PaulS

thank you paul, i always appreciate your comments. yes, it's more about a father who has been emotionally absent than physically. — sherains

as a father I see -- the distinctive end-note is, to me, both satisfying as well as crying -- our children ought to see farther as they stand on the shoulders of giants before them -- nevertheless work as a means of identity, a mistake many fathers make, can distance him from the family to his regret later when nothing else means anything anymore -- nicely knit with the beat of 'my father' carrying the piece to that shrill end-note — AlchemiA